Home Office

Marriage: Humanism

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to grant legal recognition to humanist marriage ceremonies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Victoria Atkins: Amending the existing law on marriage in England and Wales to make provision for legally valid humanist ceremonies may involve a range of issues that the Government is carefully considering. Northern Ireland has its own law on marriage.

Home Office: Social Media

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2018 to Question 138380, who is in the restricted group of users that has access to Facebook and Twitter.

Victoria Atkins: It would be inappropriate to publicly supply a list of who is in the restricted group of users that have access to Facebook and Twitter via Departmental phones as to do so may help facilitate attacks against official systems by hostile actors.

Home Office: Training

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training his Department has provided to (a) general civil servants, (b) fast stream civil servants and (c) senior civil servants on understanding the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament; how many such courses have taken place; and how many civil servants have attended such training courses in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office is committed to raising the capability of its staff on understanding the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament.The related training packages are for those working in the Policy Profession which are tailored to their Home Office business areas; and those with spe-cific roles or groups of officials. The main key training packages include: In-duction: An Introduction to Parliament; and The Parliamentary Processes.The Home Office also provides on demand internal and informal training to Policy professionals supporting continuous learning and building capability and expertise.Precise numbers could only be provided at disproportionate cost; as informal learning is undertaken with the business itself and where data is not captured.

Crime: Greater London

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of crime in London in the last 12 months.

Mr Nick Hurd: Crime figures for England and Wales are published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and incorporate police recorded crime (PRC) and the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The table below shows the latest changes in PRC for London for the year ending March 2018 compared to the previous year.   Year ending % change  Mar-17Mar-18Total recorded crime 774,734 820,9206%Violence against the person192,979 201,1254%Sexual offences17,668 19,80412%Robbery24,174 32,75135%Burglary69,493 76,72710%Shoplifting48,102 47,014-2%Theft offences376,567 405,1228%Criminal damage and arson62,652 60,054-4%Drug offences37,520 35,696-5%Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesOverall, crime recorded by police forces in England and Wales increased by 11% in the year ending March 2018. The independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said that this increase is largely due to improvements in crime recording by police forces, and the increased willingness of victims to report such crimes to the police. The ONS has also noted that there have been genuine rises in some low-volume, high-harm categories of violence, notably knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our Serious Violence Strategy, published on 9 April, puts greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote a strong law enforcement response.The most recent national crime figures are published by the Office for National Statistic in ‘Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018’ (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018).

Asylum: Housing

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions are included in the new asylum accommodation contracts to ensure that people granted asylum who are required to share a bedroom are able to adhere to personal religious practice.

Caroline Nokes: The forthcoming contracts will provide eligible asylum seekers with accommodation, transport and related support services and will continue to permit the use of room sharing for some service users providing it complies with the strict criteria set out in the contracts and with relevant national and local housing regulations, including advice from social services and primary and secondary care bodies on whether room sharing is inappropriate for individual cases.In addition all accommodation providers will be required to continue to ensure that they take into account a service users individual characteristics and provide them with appropriate accommodation reflective of any changing needs, including adherence to religious practice.